NHL: Boston Bruins' Nathan Horton not letting delicacy become part of his game

For a guy who’s supposed to be in delicate health, Nathan Horton is an awful scary looking physical specimen.

Muscular and heavily tattooed, the Bruins’ 6-foot-2, 230-pound right wing is a hard body right off the pages of “Flex” magazine.

And happy, too. Flashing that 1,000-watt smile, Horton can’t mask his bubbly enthusiasm over being able to play hockey again.

“Yeah, definitely — especially with what’s happened before, I feel real thankful to be here and be part of this team,” said Horton, who went 363 days between games after a pair of debilitating concussions. “I’m having fun and I’m enjoying myself.”

Horton used part of that time off from hockey to lift weights and add even more muscle to his already intimidating frame. Now he’s stronger than ever and determined to play the game his way — physically — even though it’s pretty likely that his next concussion will be his last.

“That’s the way I’ve always played,” Horton said, insisting he won’t shy away from contact and, in fact, will initiate it whenever possible. “When I play physical, I get more into the game and it brings out everything else. It makes me feel better. When I get more involved, that’s when I’m at my best.”

A former No. 3 overall pick in the NHL draft, Horton came to the Bruins from the Florida Panthers, along with Gregory Campbell, in a 2010 deal for defenseman Dennis Wideman and two draft picks, a first- and third-rounder. Not bad considering Horton had averaged 24 goals a season for his first six NHL seasons.

He scored 26 goals (with a plus-29 rating) in his first season in Boston — the Stanley Cup year of 2010-11 — but then disaster struck. A cheap shot by Vancouver’s Aaron Rome in Game 3 of the Cup finals ended Horton’s great playoff run, which included 8 goals and 17 points in 21 games, including three game-winners, two in overtime.

He made it to the 46th game of the following season, Jan. 22, when the Flyers’ Tom Sestito delivered a check that resulted in a second concussion. Though Horton made several comeback attempts, he didn’t play again until the opener of this truncated season — three days shy of a full year later.

At times, some were wondering if Horton — like Marc Savard before him — might never play again. Horton, though, wasn’t one of those people, saying an early forced retirement “never crossed my mind.”

Horton chose not to play during the lockout, even though he had been cleared for contact, and the rust has been obvious in the finesse parts of his game — stickhandling, passing, and the smooth skating moves. But he has been aggressive and his wrist shot is as dangerous as ever.

Horton snapped off a laser to score the tying goal against the Rangers in New York on Wednesday as the Bruins salvaged a point by rallying from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime before losing.

“It feels good,” Horton said about his first goal. “I haven’t been thinking about it, but it’s definitely nice to get it out of the way. I don’t want to stop at just one.”

Horton cranked out a team-high four shots on goal Friday night. He also had one blocked in front and two others missed the net. But when he gets zeroed in, watch out. He scored on 18.9 percent of his shots last season — that’s about one goal every five shots —- which ranked sixth in the NHL.

“He’s a beast right now,” teammate Brad Marchand said. “He knew that to get back to his top game, he had to work hard and that’s what he did. You’ve really got to credit him for that. He’s more determined now. He came back in phenomenal shape.”

Horton and his linemates, Milan Lucic and David Krejci, have spent long stretches swarming around in the offensive end. With just a little good fortune, Lucic (two goals) and Krejci (none) also could have a bunch of points.

“Really, they’re scary out there,” Marchand said. “They’re not guys I would want to play against, and I think that goes for most defensemen. When they’re on top of their game, they really carry our team.”

The Bruins have come from behind four times in their last three games, much like they did during their Stanley Cup drive in 2011. “That’s exactly how it feels,” Horton said.

Horton is in the final year of his $4 million-a-year contract, and there’s rampant speculation that if he has a good season, he’ll price himself right out of Boston. The salary cap will go down drastically next season, which would make it difficult to re-sign Horton anyway. Besides, the Bruins also have to worry about negotiating new deals with goalie Tuukka Rask and defenseman Andrew Ference.

“I’m not even thinking about it,” Horton said. “I’m just happy to be back in Boston with such a great team. We could really do something special this year again, and it’s going to take a lot of work. That’s all I’m thinking about, is winning games and having fun.”

Their power play continues to sputter (1 for 17), but at least there’s something special about Boston’s special teams — penalty killing.

The Bruins have skated off all 17 short-handed situations they’ve faced so far, including a pair of 5-on-3s totaling 2:43 -— one of them without Zdeno Chara, a key figure in their three-man defense — and more than two minutes of 4-on-3 in overtime.

There’s a reason, too.

“We made some adjustments with our PK this year,” coach Claude Julien said. “We really wanted to be a little bit more aggressive and proactive versus passive. It’s been really good, and I think it’s certainly helped us get some wins.

“Against Winnpeg, they did a great job killing. The 5-on-3s that we’ve had to kill, and the 4-on-3 obviously in the overtime period, are kills that were at crucial times, that could have given us a different ending (if unsuccessful). It’s been really, really good and we hope it continues that way.”

Patrice Bergeron, Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Marchand especially have been sharp on the short-handed unit.

During their championship season, the Bruins were just 16th in the league penalty killing, but sixth during the playoffs. Last season, they ranked 11th during the regular season and ninth in the postseason.

Some of this talk about games being more important in a 48-game season is actually a lot of propaganda. Coaches are singing that tune in an effort to wring better efforts out of their players, but the truth is that in terms of the playoffs — and isn’t that what it’s all about? — the first 48 games were almost as important during 82-game seasons.

At least that’s what the numbers indicate. Last season, for instance, on the day after the Bruins played their 48th game, seven of the eight teams that were in playoff position in the Eastern Conference were still in the top eight on the final day of the regular season. There was only one change — Toronto fell out of the top eight and was replaced by Florida, which had been ninth.

In the four seasons before that, this is how much the top eight in the East changed from Game 48 to Game 82: 2010-11, one change; 2009-10, two changes; 2008-09, two changes; 2007-08, two changes.

The one difference in a 48-game season: There’s no need for players to pace themselves, or “save” themselves for the playoffs, because the start of the postseason is equivalent to late January of a normal season.

History shows that if you’re going to get to Rask, do it early. Rask gave up a pair of goals to the Rangers in the first period on Wednesday, and that — early goals — actually has been his trademark since he has been with Boston.

Conversely, he usually is terrific late — in the third period and overtime. Through the first four games, Rask has turned aside all 35 shots he has faced in the final 20 minutes, one of two shots in overtime (Martin Gaborik batted a rebound out of midair for the goal), and three of four shots in the one shootout against Winnipeg.

The next time there’s an NHL lockout — and there will be a next time, whether it’s in 2020 or 2022 — let’s not hear any more nonsense from fans about their anger with owners and players or their threats to not watch the games anymore.

After the third lockout since 1994-95, the NHL returned on Jan. 19 by selling out all 13 openers — even the Florida Panthers packed ‘em in with a crowd of 19,204 — and establishing record TV ratings locally and nationally.

Twenty-one of the 30 franchises are at or over 100 percent capacity for their arenas after almost a week. Even Columbus drew a crowd of 19,206 for its home opener, which was 105.9 percent of capacity at Nationwide Arena.

The Bruins have sold out 131 consecutive games at TD Garden, including regular season and playoffs. The NBC Sports Network said its ratings for the first week were up 27 percent over last season’s opening week. Ratings for the first four games were up 53 percent over last season’s average regular-season ratings.

Maybe the sport keeps dumping on them, but the fans still can’t get enough.

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